June, 2003 The history of Poeppel Corner oeppel Corner is the name of the junction of the Northern PTerritory/Queensland border with the northern border of South Australia. It is one of the best known of the State corners and certainly the remotest. The nearest town is Birdsville, population 120, which is 177 kilometres to the east. Poeppel Corner is located in the heart of the Simpson Desert and is accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles. The visitors’ book shows that about 2000 tourists make the journey each year. These days the corner is marked by a concrete pipe, standing 1.8 metres high on a sand dune just above Lake Poeppel, which spreads across the Northern Territory and South Australia borders. A specially prepared plaque on top of the pipe shows the names of the states and territory and the title ‘Poeppel Corner’. In 1880, Augustus Poeppel, South Australian Government Surveyor, marked the corner with a coolibah Eucalyptus microtheca post, 2.1 metres long by 0.25 metres in diameter. The post was dragged 58 miles (92 kilometres) westward from the Mulligan River. Poeppel adzed it on three sides and chiseled This plaque on a concrete pipe now marks the location of Poeppel Corner into it the words ‘South Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland’. Below the ‘South Australia’ inscription he carved Queensland/Northern Territory border ran due north to the LAT 26 LONG 138 for the latitude and longitude. Gulf of Carpenteria. The post was placed by Poeppel to complete his survey of the Poeppel returned to the corner in 1883 to commence the South Australian/Queensland border along the 26th Parallel of survey of the Queensland/Northern Territory border. The Latitude between the 141st Meridian to the 138th Meridian of post was not seen again by a European until 1936, when Longitude, a distance of 186 miles 49 chains (300.3 km). It Northern Territory grazier, Ted Colson, and his Aboriginal represented the intersection of the 26th Parallel with the 138th companion Peter Aims, completed the first east-west crossing Meridian. From this point, the South Australia/Northern Territory border ran east across the Simpson Desert and the GCONTINUED PAGE 2 The history of Welcome to new subscribers t has been wonderful to hear from historical societies around Australia that are Poeppel Corner Iinterested in the study of placenames and the ANPS project. Many of those societies that responded to the mail-out of the March edition of Placenames Australia G CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 not only subscribed to the newsletter but have also become ANPS Research Friends. of the Simpson Desert with five camels. Thanks for your interest and support! A warm welcome to the following societies: They photographed the post on their Augusta Historical Society Hay Historical Society return journey from Birdsville. By then, Bathurst District Historical Society Hist. Society of the Munic. of Sorell the corner had become known as Bayswater Historical Society Inverell District Family History Group ‘Poeppel Corner’ after Augustus Poeppel. Bendigo Historical Society Ipswich Historical Society Berrima District Historical Society Isis District Historical Society Dr Reg Sprigg completed the first Biggenden Historical Society Kilkivan and District Historical Society vehicular crossing of the Simpson Blacktown and District Historical Society Koroit and District Historical Society Desert in 1962. He found the corner Boorowa and District Historical Society Ku-ring-gai Historical Society and Family post lying flat on the ground, eaten Brisbane City Council Heritage Unit History Group through by white ants and riddled with Brisbane Water Historical Society Lameroo District Historical Society dry rot. Dr Sprigg placed a temporary Broome Historical Society Lightning Ridge Historical Society Trust mark over the base and took the fallen Buninyong and District Hist. Society Lower Burdekin Historical Society post back to Birdsville and later to Camden Historical Society Macksville and District History Group Adelaide. It was returned to the South Campbelltown and Airds Hist. Society Malvern Historical Society Australian Surveyor General and is now Cardwell Shire Museum and Hist. Soc. Mansfield Historical Society held by the South Australian History Casino and District Historical Society Mareeba Historical Society Trust. The chiseled names are still Channel Hist. and Folk Museum Assoc. Marrickville Heritage Society legible. The concrete pipe was Clarence River Historical Society Melville History Society subsequently placed to mark Poeppel Coasters Retreat Historical Society Mid Murraylands Local History Group corner. Concord Heritage Society Milton-Ulladulla Historical Society Cooray-Noosa Genealogical and New Farm and Districts Hist. Society GAlan Middleton Historical Research Group Nundah and District Historical Society Senior Surveyor Cootamundra Local History Society Orroroo Historical Society Department of Sustainability and Crookwell and District Historical Society Paterson Historical Society Environment, Victoria Cundletown Historical Society Queenscliffe Historical Museum Daylesford and District Hist. Society Queensland Women’s Hist. Association In this issue Dingley Village and District Hist. Society Redcliffe Historical Society Dubbo Museum and History Centre Sandgate and District Historical Society The history of Poeppel Corner ... .1-2 Eastern Goldfields Historical Society and Museum Welcome to new subscribers .............2 Emerald Shire Historical Association Seymour and District Historical Society Electronic toponymic updates ...............2 Enfield and District Historical Society Shoalhaven Family History Society Indigenous placenames initiative ......3 Footscray Historical Society Springwood Historical Society Fremantle Local History Collection Sunshine Coast Historical and Naming the place we live .................4-5 Furneaux Hist. Research Association Genealogical Resource Centre Media focus ...........................................5 Gatton and District Historical Society Tara and District Historical Society Feedback: Everard of the Cape ........6 Gloucester District Historical Society Toowoomba Historical Society ANPS NSW State Committee ..........7 Great Lakes Historical Society Yarraman and District Historical Society Hamilton History Centre Yarrawonga – Mulwala Historical Society Minister opens Centre..........................7 Hargraves and District Historical Society Yorketown Historical Society Reviving Aboriginal languages .......8-9 New subscribers after the time of going to press will be listed in the next issue New publications ..................................9 Places and pitfalls ........................10-11 Electronic toponymic updates Placenames Puzzle No. 6 .................11 Bill Bright visits Sydney ....................11 The ANPS team would like to be able to contact Research Friends and Placenames Australia subscribers with items of interest not only through the quarterly release On the web .........................................12 of the newsletter but during the whole year. If you would like to be on our email Placenames in the news ....................12 distribution list and receive occasional notices about toponymic events, please Mailing List & Volunteer Research....12 send your email address to Clair Hill at [email protected]. Indigenous placenames initiative launched in Warrnambool, Victoria ew people realise how many of FVictoria’s towns and cities have names of Indigenous origin. To address this, Victoria’s Registrar of Geographic Names has launched a public awareness program about Indigenous placenames. This program has held a series of workshops to which representatives from Indigenous communities, local councils and other naming authorities have been invited to participate. There are thousands of names with Indigenous origins in use, particularly in rural and regional Victoria. However, many years ago when these names were first given, surveyors had difficulty capturing Australian Aboriginal speech sounds and recording them using the English spelling system. As a result, some of the meanings Left to right: Keith Bell (Registrar Geographic Place Names), Jeremy Clark (CEO Framlingham and pronunciations of these names have Aboriginal Trust) and Stephen Walsh (Department of Infrastructure) at the launch of the new been lost over time. Indigenous placenaming brochure. Photo: Diana Nolan. of various landmarks and places in date, five more successful workshops The state-wide series of workshops was Victoria is a positive step. have been held in Hamilton, Ballarat, aimed at providing a forum for Indig- Benalla, Melbourne and Traralgon for enous communities and placenaming As part of the program, a presentation representatives of local councils who are authorities to discuss the new approach was delivered by Stephen Walsh of the responsible for the placenaming process to naming, as well as trying to establish a Department of Infrastructure (DoI) on within their organisations. consultation protocol that could be the joint DoI-VicRoads Indigenous road adopted by naming authorities when naming project. This project is aimed at While the main focus of the workshops considering proposals for Indigenous assigning Indigenous names to bridges is on the responsibilities of naming placenames. and other road features and is being authorities under the Geographic Place piloted in south-western Victoria. Names Act 1998, as well as the The first workshop was held in implementation of the Guidelines for Warrnambool on the November 1, 2002.